Red Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito may have suffered a season-ending elbow injury during a spring training game Tuesday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported.
“Initial imaging showed Boston Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito likely has a partially torn UCL and flexor strain and could miss the 2024 season, league sources tell ESPN,” Passan tweeted Tuesday morning. Passan also indicated that Giolito would need surgery to repair the right elbow damage.
Brutal news: Initial imaging showed Boston Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito likely has a partially torn UCL and flexor strain and could miss the 2024 season, league sources tell ESPN. Giolito, who signed a two-year deal with Boston, may need surgery to repair the right-elbow damage.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 5, 2024
Giolito was slated to be a major piece of the Red Sox rotation after they traded away ace Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves in December. (RELATED: MLB Team Forcing Players To Shave But Allowing Them To Wear Gigantic Chains Makes No Sense)
They signed him to a two-year, $38 million deal in January.
Now their starting rotation is extremely thin. After breakout youngster Brayan Bello, the starting staff is filled with mostly B and C-level players as they’ll have to rely on good seasons from Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock, and Kutter Crawford to fill the gap.
The lack of proven talent in their rotation leads me to ask, could they make a move for one of the premier arms left on the market?
In an odd twist of fate, two of the best pitchers in the MLB are still available as free agents. Reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell is still out there, inexplicably. So is reigning World Series champion Jordan Montgomery, who the Sox have been heavily linked to.
Signing Montgomery would be a no-brainer. Sox fans have been up in arms all offseason for Boston’s lack of spending. In one fell swoop the team could satiate the fans’ cravings for a big name while filling a now-pressing need for pitching. Get it done Bean Town.